Photos: Take a look at Chapel Hill’s Franklin Street through the years
By Scott Sharpe
A post card scene shows Franlin Street in Chapel Hill about 1940.
Massengill Post Card Collection
State Archives of NC
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The changing face of Chapel Hill’s Franklin Street
Every time a fabled establishment shuts down in Chapel Hill, the laments grow louder. But when Linda’s Bar & Grill shut its doors this month, potentially for good, those cries grew to a loud roar. Can Franklin Street survive the changes, or is UNC’s main drag merely staging a dramatic wardrobe change? Here’s The News & Observer’s coverage of the downtown thoroughfare.
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Businesses come and go along Franklin Street, the main drag through downtown Chapel Hill next to the University of North Carolina.
The thoroughfare has been the site for lively Halloween gatherings and protests as well as crowded festivals and raucous celebrations when the men’s basketball team topples Duke or wins a national championship.
But several businesses along the stretch have gone away in recent years, with Linda’s Bar & Grill the most recent one. Some worry the street’s quirky college-town charm is being replaced by a high-tech, high-end future. (Stay tuned. Linda’s may not be gone for good.)
Here’s a look at some of the changes over the years.
Franklin Street in downtown Chapel Hill, 1939. The U.S. Post Office still stands at the corner of Franklin and Henderson streets. Marion Post-Wolcott Library of Congress
In this 1939 photograph, University of North Carolina students sit in their car in front of the post office on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Marion Post-Wolcott Library of Congres
Image from a 1969 Fashion shoot on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, N.C. From the News & Observer archives
UNC fans watch the Tar Heels face Marquette in the NCAA championship game March 28, 1977. They were gathered around televisions in a storefront window on Franklin Street. File photo
Image of a 1980’s era street vendor with sandwich board advertising and promoting the services of Universal Printing in the NCNB Plaza on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, N.C. From the News & Observer archives
A couple kisses in the middle of the celebration on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, NC after the Tar Heels defeated Georgetown to win the 1982 National Championship. Scott Sharpe ssharpe@newsobserver.com
UNC fans celebrate from atop a tree on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, NC after UNC’s National Championship win over Georgetown in 1982. Scott Sharpe ssharpe@newsobserver.com
The storefront of the Strowd Building on Franklin St. across from the UNC-CH campus in 1996. Sutton’s Drug Store remains open after 100 years. Harry Lynch NEWS & OBSERVER FILE PHOTO
Julian’s, the well-known clothing shop on East Franklin Street, shown in 1997. Harry Lynch File photo
Julian’s closed its original location on East Franklin Street, next to the Carolina Coffee Shop, in 2007. It’s now across the street at 135 E. Franklin St. Mark Dolejs The Herald-Sun file photo
Chapel Hill Sportswear employee Anne Frautschi helps decorate a window display Feb. 4, 2004 at the store on Franklin St. in Chapel Hill. Profits from the “turn it blue” T-shirts will benefit charity. TRAVIS LONG
Millie Pratt endures the cold winds of winter to sell signs of spring, in this case carnations and a variety of daisies, from her perch on the sidewalks of E. Franklin Street in downtown Chapel Hill on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2006. Flower ladies were more common in Chapel Hill in past decades. Pratt has been selling flowers off and on since the late 1950s. Bill Willcox The Herald-Sun
Halloween in Chapel Hill was for years a major celebration with the street closed off to costumed revelers, such as this 2006 night. Bernard Thomas Herald-Sun File Photo
It looked like relatively clear sailing ahead for Carrboro, NC resident Paul Van Ness Thursday, Jan. 5, 2012 as he pedaled and sailed with the help of westerly tail winds on his daily commute down W. Franklin St. to work in Chapel Hill. Van Ness says he hand-built his side-by-side tandem bicycle conveyance, but added his wood and thick plastic twin jib sails for the occasional added power from kindly winds. He often gets stopped on the street fielding questions about his pedal and wind powered transportation. Harry Lynch File photo
A UNC fan prepares to jump over a bonfire in the middle of Franklin St. in downtown Chapel Hill after UNC’s victory over Duke Sunday, March 6, 2005. Juli Leonard
A panoramic photo montage of Chapel Hill’s Franklin Street after UNC’s men’s basketball team defeated Illinois for the NCAA Championship in 2005. Shawn Rocco File photo
Carolina Pride employee Courtney Lewis, left, works the cash register as Chris Belcher folds another freshly printed UNC 2005 National Champions T-shirt for customer Tracy Jackson of Carrboro, right, during the post-championship morning crush of shoppers to Franklin Street stores. Harry Lynch File photo
Frank T. Wright, known locally as the snappiest dresser in Chapel Hill, wears a fur coat over his yellow suit while waiting for a bus Tuesday, February 1, 2005 on East Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. Bill Willcox The Herald-Sun
A family walks down Franklin Street in Chapel Hill in 1999. Harry Lynch File photo
Hundreds of students from Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, along with parents and community members, gathered at Peace and Justice Plaza on Franklin St. on April 20, 2018, the 19th anniversary of the Columbine school shooting. Julia Wall File photo
Sutton’s Drug Store in Chapel Hill, N.C., pictured here on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020. Julia Wall File photo
Passerby Elisabeth Albert of Durham, left, checks out the front window as she walks in to the Time After Time vintage thrift shop in the 400 block of W. Franklin St.,March 21, 2014. Store owners Annie Jackson and husband Steven Schrenzel closed their well-known store on April 15, 2014 after more than 30 years in business. Harry Lynch File photo
Hundreds attended a rally in Chapel Hill on March 29, 2016 to protest the passage of N.C. House Bill 2, which included a provision requiring people to use the bathroom matching the gender on their birth certificates. The protesters marched from the old post office up Franklin Street to Columbia Street, where they formed a circled and stopped traffic for hours. Chris Seward cseward@newsobserver.com
A sidewalk that would normally be packed on a Saturday evening is filled instead with closed signs and a few pedestrians out for exercise or take-out meals due to stay-at-home orders in place to slow the spread of COVID-19, on Saturday, Apr. 25, 2020, in Chapel Hill, N.C. Casey Toth ctoth@newsobserver.com
A building at 137 East Franklin Street, one site that will become a part of Chapel Hill’s new downtown innovation district, is photographed on Friday, Jan. 20, 2023, in Chapel Hill, N.C. Kaitlin McKeown kmckeown@newsobserver.com
This story was originally published January 22, 2024 at 3:26 PM.
The changing face of Chapel Hill’s Franklin Street
Every time a fabled establishment shuts down in Chapel Hill, the laments grow louder. But when Linda’s Bar & Grill shut its doors this month, potentially for good, those cries grew to a loud roar. Can Franklin Street survive the changes, or is UNC’s main drag merely staging a dramatic wardrobe change? Here’s The News & Observer’s coverage of the downtown thoroughfare.
